Ankataa Djininjela!

Friday night we traveled to an authentic Bamana village about 2.5 hours away, all crammed on one Sotraman.  The village, Djininjela (which means "village by the white river") still practices century old Bamana traditions and perforemed a ceremony for us.  As is typical, the griot (local keeper of oral history and emcee for the night) drove out to meet us on his moto, and I got to ride back with him, giving me an unparralelled view of the country side.

When we arrived at the village, we were greeted by village elders playing (so embarrasing, an instrument I don't know, but seen below), and a hoard of kids shouting the usual, TUBABU, very much in line w/ Malian hospitality. 

They performed a few dances for us, including Bara, which was a lot like Kote, a dance we did in Mande this past semester (check out the Manda class video link on the right!).  The drummers stood in the center, and the women danced around closely to them, with the men doing a different dance around them.  As the music continued and changed, the dancers would change the steps, with the more adept dancers in the front of the lines, leading the step, while the younger, less experienced dancers tried their best toward the back.  

Like most places we went, wherever we sat, we were surrounded by hoards of adorable Malian kids who loved to take pictures of themselves and look at them.  I struck up quite a rapport with one kid, Adama, who, after this picture, would yell "Yakuba!" (my Malian name), and stick out his tongue.  Though we didn't speak the same language, we all got along famously, and I was very sad go.  

Then the Chablanca dancers came out, which was a real treat. I didn't get to hear too much about the dance itself (I should hear more about it from our village guide, Sedou Traore, tomorrow, so check back in!), but these 6 dancers came out in authentic chablanca outfits and did unbelievable acrobatics with masks on for about 2 hours!  I would upload a video but my internet's not being very friendly at the moment.  In the meantime, here's a (sideways) picture of one of their formations, through which the other 3 jumped through.  These guys could do incredible feats and they all came up and shook our hands and thanked us for coming during the ceremony. 

 

In the morning we met with the village counselors to present our gifts.  The chief had recently passed away and since they hadn't officiated a new chief yet, the counselors accepted our gifts on behalf of the village and would pass them out among the villagers.  The new chief will be officiated with the harvest and will most likely be the grandson of the recently deceased former chief.  Below is a picture of the griot, Sedouba Dunbiya (on the right in red), next to Sedou Traore, our guide to the village who grew up nearby, and the village elders circled around. 

After we presented our gifts the elders said how touched they were we came.  All I could think of was how amazing this hospitality was, that they threw an incredible ceremony for us.  Yet, in true Malian fashion, they thanked and blessed us for coming to their village, risking health issues, buying a plane ticket, and bringing gifts.  They said they were truly grateful and hoped they hadn't offended us.  It was truly moving.  They then said how Djininjela was our home away from home and they would expect us every year to exchange cultural practices.
Amazing. 
That's all for a few days until I find another internet connection.  Hope you're enjoying reading!
Rob